Girl Meets Chameleon
by comealongpond
Summary: The story of when Rapunzel met Pascal for the first time.


**So this is a pretty stupid story. But I figured all us Tangled fans are so depressed from Tangled not winning the award last night that we could do with a little fluff. This describes Rapunzel and Pascal's first meeting. Rapunzel is so lucky to have Pascal – I seriously think she'd go insane without him to keep her company. Reviews are loved.**

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It was mid-March, Rapunzel was twelve years old, and Gothel had just left the tower to get food for lunch. Rapunzel sighed, thinking about what she would do today, as she often did. After deliberating for a while, Rapunzel decided she might as well get back to her knitting. She had left her yarn and needles in her bedroom, so she headed upstairs to get them.

She had just picked them up off her bed when she saw something green run across the room. She turned around sharply, looking for it, but it was nowhere to be seen. She was pretty sure she hadn't been imagining it. Tentatively, she looked under the bed. There was definitely something down there, although it was too dark to see what it was.

The weird thing was that this thing had _moved_. What items did she own that could move on their own? She wasn't aware of any. Her curiosity sparked, she threw the knitting needles back onto her comforter and pushed the bed frame from the wall. As light filled the area where the bed was, it illuminated a small green reptile, backing up into a corner and looking very scared.

Rapunzel smiled a little. How had _that_ gotten there? "Hey," she said softly. How long had it been since she had interacted with another living thing? The occasional birds that flew in her window and the insects around the tower were the only animals she had ever really met. "Hey, it's alright." She held out her hand, hoping for the creature to climb up onto it.

Slowly, the reptile walked forward onto her palm.

She grinned and held him closer to her, inspecting him. "How did you get in here?" she asked. Then she realized that was stupid. Animals couldn't talk. Although this one seemed to have rather vivid facial expressions. Right now, he was looking very confused and bit nervous.

Seeing this, Rapunzel put him down on her bed. She sat on the floor so she could be eye to eye with him. After doing some quick thinking, she figured the only logical way that the creature could have gotten here is if it found its way into Gothel's basket when she was out one day. Rapunzel couldn't say that she minded. The thing was pretty cute.

"What are you anyway?" she asked, squinting her eyes at him. "Some kind of lizard?" She had a book on reptiles, but she had hardly memorized it enough to identify every species.

He rolled his eyes and began turning the same shade of pink as the bed.

"Ah!" Rapunzel said. She snapped her fingers and pointed at him, rather pleased with herself. "You're a chameleon!"

He nodded happily and gave her a smile.

Rapunzel was amazed how nice it felt to have someone to talk to besides her mother. Even if the chameleon couldn't talk back, he seemed to understand what she was saying. Her mind began racing as she imagined all the things she could do with him. She could actually have a _friend_! But maybe she was getting overexcited about this. He was just a chameleon, after all.

"So, do you have a name?" She stared at him, his expression blank. She sighed. "Well you're going to need one…" She thought for a moment. "You're a boy, right?" she asked.

He nodded.

"Yeah, I thought so," Rapunzel said. He just _looked _like one. Now…what to name him? After a while she came up with something. "How about Pascal?" she asked excitedly.

Rapunzel looked at him eagerly, and after a few seconds, he nodded.

"Yay!" she squealed. She down on the bed next to him and looked down at him. She was so glad she had found him. It was the most interesting thing that happened to her in quite a while. "So tell me, do you plan on staying here?" Not that he really had a choice. Still, she thought it would be polite to ask rather than just forcing him into being her friend.

Pascal did something that looked like a shrug.

"Well, you really should think about it," Rapunzel said. "I'm sure living here would be a lot more fun than where you came from. I could feed you, and play with you, and you could sleep in my bed…"

Pascal looked satisfied by this, and smiled.

"Good," she said, picking him up and petting him. He seemed to enjoy this. "I'm sure you'll love it here!" She could hardly contain her excitement over finally having a real pet. For the first time in her life, she would have someone to keep her company when Mother left.

"Oh!" she said. "My name is Rapunzel, by the way." She couldn't believe she had forgotten to introduce herself.

He smiled at her again, and she returned the grin. She put him back down again. "And this is my bedroom," she said, gesturing to the room. "You can explore if you like."

He began walking around her bed curiously. Just at that moment, Rapunzel heard Gothel's familiar cry of her name. Rapunzel jumped up, surprised, and rushed to her bedroom door. "Just stay here," she told Pascal with a smile. "I'll be back in a minute." She figured it was best not to tell Gothel about Pascal right away. What if she made her get rid of him?

The chameleon gave a small nod and continued exploring. Rapunzel looked at him and let out a final squeal of happiness before running to the window to pull her mother back up to the tower.


End file.
